With the rise in popularity of coffee drinking, particularly coffee drinks such as cappuccino, café au lait and other premium coffee drinks, the practice of decorating the top surface of the frothed milk has also developed. The most widely practiced technique of decorating the foamed milk is known as “latte art”. Latte art refers to the technique of using a coffee solution to trace a design on the surface of foamed milk, wherein usually said foamed milk is in a coffee drink such as café au lait, cappuccino or the like. The designs created in the foamed milk can be of a wide array of possibilities e.g., drawings, images and writing. A number of publications suggest the use of ink jet, bubble jet or other known printers for printing with food coloring onto edible substrates, e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,058,843, 6,536,345, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0157148 (Baker et al). Inks for use on edible substrates have also been described in the prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 5,800,601 (Zou et al) teaches of a food grade jet ink containing resin. U.S. Pat. No. 6,652,897 (Stewart), U.S. Pat. No. 5,397,387 (Deng et al) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,637,139 (Morelos et al).
However, the prior art publications teach of the use of food colorants which are primarily aimed for use on edible substrates which are solids, gels or of high viscosity so that the food colorant (edible ink) may be fixed to the substrate. Furthermore, the prior art inks contain ingredients which are not completely safe for consumption or may impart a flavor which is undesirable, for example in beverages such as coffee. Examples of such ingredients include organic solvents, e.g., ethanol, iso-propanol, n-butanol and acetate esters.
Thus, there is a long felt need for an edible ink or coloring composition which does not contain ingredients which may be unsafe for consumption and may impart undesirable properties to the food stuff on which they are applied, such as undesirable taste or texture, while also suitable for use with non-impact printing technologies, e.g., bubble jet or ink jet technology.
It is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide an edible coloring composition which does not have the disadvantages of the prior art inks and compositions and is suitable for use with non-impact printing technologies, including ink jet technology.
Other objectives of the invention shall become apparent as the description proceeds.